The Masculine Wilderness Podcast · Epik Project

Masculinity on the Edge: Grievance Politics, Andrew Tate & More with Dr. Pasha Dashtgard

·52 min

Tom Perez opens by welcoming Pasha Dashgard back to the Masculine Wilderness Podcast. He frames the show as an ongoing conversation about how men can show up in the world in a healthy and life-giving way. Pasha is introduced as the Director of Research at PERIL, the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation at American University in Washington, D.C. The conversation starts with the changes since their last talk and then quickly moves into the cultural, political, and national climate. From there, the episode settles into how polarization and online culture can shape masculine identity. Pasha describes the pitch that tells men their future depends on appearance, status, and a kind of biologized worthiness. Tom and Pasha spend time on the absurdity of jawline claims, eye spacing, forehead-to-cheek ratios, and other made-up measures of value. The show treats those ideas as exactly what they are: repeated often, persuasive to some people, and not remotely scientific. Tom connects the pattern to what he has seen around athletics and body culture. He remembers how the weight room can become a place where self-judgment gets trained alongside strength. Pasha and Tom keep returning to the way social media amplifies these stories until they feel normal. That amplification matters because it can make insecurity feel inevitable. The conversation also notes that women have long faced similar pressures, even if the forms are different. Later, Tom points to friendship with women as one of the simplest ways to complicate a narrow view of women. Pasha agrees that relationship matters, and that people should be treated as people rather than as targets. The exchange stays measured and reflective throughout. It closes with gratitude and a sense that this is one part of a longer conversation about how men live.

As heard by us

A plainspoken look at body-image myths, social media amplification, and the pressures shaping modern masculinity.

The episode returns to a conversation about how men can show up in the world in a healthy, life-giving way, then widens into the pressures that shape modern masculinity.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a calm conversation about healthy masculinity and the pseudoscience of looks-based worth, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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